Evan stood before his gathered army of undead.
They were silently arranging the bodies from the battlefield, lining each corpse with a precise, almost ritualistic order.
The aftermath of the fight against Elya's Master's remaining soul had been messy.
The backlash of power, the counterattacks, his own retaliation — many corpses were damaged beyond recognition.
But in the end, thirty-six bodies lay in a row.
Beyth. Peyndral. Sylen.
Those three were removed from the line.
Their significance was different.
Evan also placed beside them the real core of Lord, Peyndral, taken from the underground area earlier.
He exhaled sharply.
"Finally. Let me see if all of this trouble was worth something. If not, I swear, I'm going to knock on that Outer God's front door and explain the concept of consequences to him."
His expression twisted — frustrated, irritated, exhausted.
Arven chuckled in his head.
"I can give you his coordinates. If you want, I can drop you directly at his doorstep."
Evan froze.
"…You can actually do that?"
"Yes. Want to go now?"
"…No. His time hasn't come yet."
He waved it off immediately, coughing into his hand.
"Just asking."
He focused again.
His hand extended over the corpses.
"
The air rippled.
Pale, root-like tendrils surged from his body, wrapping around every corpse and core.
The energy was silent, colourless, and yet suffocating.
Each body trembled as if something was being torn out of it — and it was.
Time passed.
The bodies grew pale.
The process completed.
Then the results appeared before him.
[ 1× Lord (Peyndral) Beast (Lv.99), 1× God's Soul Fragment (Sylen, Lv.99) Clone>]
[ [ [ [ [Stats Absorbed] ➤ +304 STR | +316 AGL | +254 INT | +219 VIT | +211 END | +273 STA]
[Talent Absorbed] ➤ Lunarch Ascension (SSS+), Enhanced Recovery (D), Iron Surge (C+), Tranquil Focus (B-), Nightstep (A+)]
[Abilites Absorbed] ➤ Edge Sense (SSS-), Hawk eye (A), Arcane Focus(B), Aether Edge Control (A+), Crushing Rhythm (C+), Iron Stand (C), Stonehide (C–), Minor Restoration (D), Soothing Pulse (C–), Herbal Mend (C), Life Thread Stitch (C+), Green Whisper (A), Verdant Lord's Command (S-)]
[Bloodlines Absorbed] ➤ Lower Elf Bloodline (E+), Lycan Bloodline (B+),
Warrior Bloodline (C), Lower Drake Bloodline (A-), Lunarious Human Bloodline (SS+), Merman bloodline (E-)]
[Skills Absorbed] ➤ Mud Swamp Lv.1, Thunder Shot Lv.1, Weapon Aura Lv.1, Fear Lv.1, Moonlight aura Lv.1, Bloody aura Lv.1, Rozar Blade Lv.1, Sand Swept Lv.1, Beserk Lv.1, Dark Slash Lv.1, Heavy Strike Lv.1, Shield Bash Lv.1, Guard Up Lv.1, Blood Haste Lv.1,
Accelerated Rush Lv.1]
[Traits Absorbed] ➤ Hyper Regeneration (SS+), Strong Will (D), Calm Mind (B-), Mana Recovery (C+)]
[Items Stored] ➤ Several equipment have been stored in the host body through the system function [Elemental Affinites Absorbed] ➤ +26% Dusk Flame, +94% Earth, +47% Ice,
+56% Lightning]
Evan stared at the screen.
"...That's it? For a Lord, a Semi-Lord, and the top elites of the Expanse… this looks light. Suspiciously light."
He narrowed his eyes — expression sharp enough to cut steel.
"Talent. Did you pull some trick again?"
[Talent observes host inquiry as valid.]
[Many bodies were damaged beyond recovery. This reduced plunder efficiency. The talent is too low for such a level of efficiency that the host needs.]
Evan looked at the corpses.
Half-destroyed. Burnt. Torn apart. Some only heads.
He remembered exactly who caused that damage.
"…So to get full plunder, I need the bodies intact?"
He stared at the corpses again.
Silence.
Then—
"…All that work. All that planning. All that suffering.
Ruined by the fact I hit too hard."
His expression went blank.
He genuinely looked betrayed by himself.
[Talent detected plunderable fragments in damaged corpses.]
[Talent has consumed damaged abilities, talents, and skills.]
[ [ [ Evan blinked, then slowly exhaled.
"…Alright. Not a total loss. But next time, I'll have to kill carefully."
His fingers curled slightly.
He wasn't angry at losing power.
He was angry about the lost efficiency.
He cracked his knuckles and smiled — sharp, amused, dangerous.
"Now… let's see what my status looks like after all of this."
His voice was calm.
But his eyes?
They gleamed like a hunter who had just finished the first round of the feast.
"I got two SSS ranks and two SS ranks just from Sylen alone. And that was only a prototype clone. His real body must be sitting on a mountain of treasure."
Evan's eyes lit up. He looked like a kid waiting to open his birthday gifts. The excitement was sharp enough to cut through the air.
He was about to open his System panel when something shifted.
His senses sharpened.
No. They multiplied.
It felt like the world expanded around him in layers he could now read.
The cause was obvious.
He felt presence after presence moving through the forest.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
"Already? That was faster than I expected."
A slow grin stretched across his face. The notification screens vanished at once.
He raised his hand.
A massive orb of fire formed above him, spinning into existence like a miniature sun.
It roared with his Dusk Flames.
But the colour was brighter. Sharper. Alive.
The aura was familiar.
Phoenix flames.
Refined, but aura stolen.
Borrowed from the ashes of death, he commanded.
"Let's begin the real fun."
He looked at his mask. Until now, it had simply been shifting from face to face, like copying identities.
But that was just the surface.
In truth, it had been swallowing memories.
Beyth.
Peyndral.
Every victim.
Every mind.
Not a mask.
A kind of parasite.
He placed it back on his face. The surface pulsed like something breathing.
"Grow well," he murmured. "I expect good things from you."
The orb overhead was still growing.
Maintaining it drained him fast. His mana reservoirs were already almost dry.
But it was enough.
He dropped from his perch and appeared before the stone wall of the ruined castle.
His fist slammed forward.
The wall shattered. Debris shot outward, smashing through trees like cannon fire.
Evan slipped back into the forest canopy and vanished.
Then the orb fell.
The explosion swallowed the castle in a wave of blazing destruction.
Flames raced up vines. Stone cracked. Roots burned down to dust.
The ground shook. The Expanse trembled.
The castle that had stood for decades was reduced to a charred ruin in minutes.
Evan waited.
Watching. Listening.
The flames died slowly, held back only because stone could not burn forever.
"It's about time," he whispered, fading deeper into the forest and erasing his presence.
Footsteps followed.
The sound of marching.
An army of adventurers flooded the area, surrounding the ruins.
At the front stood the Guildmaster.
The Expanse overseer.
Rank #0.
The one who ruled this place longer than Sylen, as a clone, had lived.
His authority towered over everyone.
"Search everything. No one leaves. Beast or human. Seal the perimeter."
His voice carried like an iron verdict. The guild scattered.
He stepped toward the burned remains, examining the flames that licked at the stone.
He touched them.
The fire lunged to devour him, snapping like a beast.
The Guildmaster's aura flared. The flames scattered.
"This is the same. The same as that boy's. So Kael did go this far. Killing his rival just to stand above him." He muttered, misunderstanding everything.
Evan heard him perfectly.
A small smile tugged at his lips.
"Good. The seed is planted."
He was preparing to leave when something sharp cut the air.
A sword.
Fast.
Precise.
The Guildmaster reacted instantly, striking toward Evan's hiding spot.
Evan slipped away silently, landing without a sound.
'He's more alert than I expected. If I stayed one more second…'
The Guildmaster stepped closer.
Five more steps and he would have seen him.
A voice interrupted.
"Sir Myralt. The search is complete. No survivors. Only a few Twilight corpses were torn apart by wolves. Area secured."
Myralt lowered his hand.
He backed away.
"We move to confirm the rumours. Prepare to inspect the debris."
Evan stayed still until they were gone. Only then did he breathe out slowly.
"Time to go."
His plan was working. Perfectly.
Now came the next step.
He leapt into the trees and summoned the Great Eagle. The beast swooped down, and Evan climbed onto its back.
"Take me up."
The eagle spread its wings and ascended. Air thinned.
Clouds brushed past.
Evan looked down at the world he had just set on fire.
"Now I just need a cave. Then I digest everything… and finish the last weed before leaving."
The eagle dipped its wings and descended through the forest sky.
A few hours earlier....
Sylen had already fallen.
Every Adventurer carried a guild card tied to the Expanse's Life Crystal. The crystal traced their vital signs from the moment they registered until the moment they died.
When Sylen's pulse vanished, the crystal dimmed, and the guild knew instantly.
His name disappeared from the rankings.
The notice reached Guildmaster Myralt within minutes.
He froze when he saw the report.
Sylen and his elite unit were supposed to be more than enough to kill the Lord.
Yet the Life Crystal never lied.
Something had gone wrong.
Myralt gathered his trusted team. If Sylen didn't return, then the others would. Once they came back, everything would be clear.
But then another report arrived.
Members of Twilight were being wiped out in the Lord's Castle.
Someone was hunting them.
That was when Myralt moved.
Not to confirm victory.
But to find the truth behind the chaos.
They set out toward the Lord's castle. The air on the path was thick with rumours.
Whispers about a third party.
Someone is interfering with Sylen and the Lord.
And one name kept spreading among the adventurers.
Kael.
The second prodigy.
Sylen's rival.
The one always seen standing just behind him.
Myralt kept silent. He knew Kael. He believed Kael would never go that far.
But suspicion only needed one seed.
And the more they walked, the deeper that seed rooted itself.
It rooted further when they saw the sky.
A pillar of flame had erupted in the distance.
By the time they reached the castle, the entire structure was a burning ruin.
Vines were ash.
Stone blackened.
The heat still thick enough to choke.
The destruction was much too fresh.
They began clearing the rubble, fighting flames that refused to die.
Every moment spent inside the flames strengthened one idea:
The one who started this fire wanted it remembered.
Two hours of digging revealed what remained of Sylen's unit.
Burned bodies.Charred bone.
No survivors.
The guild members worked in silence. Some of them burned their own hands trying to recover what was left. The flames clung like they were alive. Like they refused to let their victims go.
The anger grew.
Then they found the corpses they were searching for.
Beyth, the Lord.
And Sylen.
Beyth's massive, monstrous form left no doubt, while Peyndral was not even mentioned.
Sylen's head and body were recovered separately.
There was no mistaking him.
Silence broke into grief.
Sylen had been the pride of the Expanse.
The prodigy who rose from nothing.
The one everyone believed would climb higher than any of them.
He was admired.
Envied.
Loved.
Especially loved.
Tears turned to rage.
And then they found the proof they needed to justify that rage.
Blade marks. Thin. Clean. Precise.
The same pattern as Kael's swordsmanship.
The same flames Kael once displayed.
Piece by piece, the conclusion carved itself into their minds.
Kael killed Sylen.
Kael burned the castle.
Kael destroyed the Lord.
The rumour became truth.
Truth became conviction. Conviction became hatred.
"Kael is the killer."
The words spread through the guild.
Through the Expanse.
Through every tongue and every echo.
The perfect misunderstanding.
The kind you couldn't undo.
--To be continued--
What happens when a world hunts a boy who never lifted his blade to do that thing?
What happens when Evan watches the Expanse tear itself apart, just to kill his target, exactly as he planned?
Keep reading to see the fallout of a perfectly planted lie.
Will it succeed, and what will be the outcome? If you wish to find out, add it to your library for quick updates and become a part of Evan's adventure.